If not for the World Cup, the Italian football scandal today would be the main topic of news. We are witnessing the collapse of one of the greatest clubs in the world - Turin Juventus, and with it the reputation of Serie A
LAST APRIL DAY for Italians ended in the most familiar way: the results of the 36th round of the championship in Serie A were discussed on all channels - Milan and Juventus won their matches, maintaining a three-pointer distance between themselves. In one review, they argued that the Scudetto will go to the Turin again. In another, invited guest Franco Barezi argued that the championship was not over yet and in general Juventus was not at all impressive. Not a word was said on any of the country's main television channels that on this day the Turin’s prosecutor’s office decided to institute criminal proceedings against “a group of individuals allegedly associated with the leadership of the country's football clubs and organizations.”
The fact that the prosecutor’s office opened its case on April 30 is, of course, a coincidence of pure water. But it was precisely between the 36th and 37th rounds of the championship that the calendar implied a week-long pause. This week was enough for May 7, when the chase of “Milan” for “Juventus” resumed, the question of who gets the scudetto, ceased to be the most relevant in Italian football.
On May 3, La Repubblica published an article with excerpts from telephone conversations of some referees serving Serie A. On May 5, printouts of telephone conversations of Juventus General Manager Luciano Moji with Paolo Bergamo, who is responsible for appointing the arbitrators for Serie A matches, were published with the Executive Director Juve ”Antonio Giraudo, with Vice President of the Italian Football Federation, Inocenzo Mazini, with former Minister of the Interior Giuseppe Pisanu. Giraudo tried to go on a counterattack and speak to the cameras - said the indignant monologue that the publication of personal telephone conversations violates the fundamental rights of the individual. But reassuring the public with references to civil liberties was too late.
On May 6, new printouts appeared in newspapers next to quotes from Giraudo. And also - reports that their "football affairs" were opened in the prosecutor's offices of Rome and Naples. Later, prosecutors from Parma, Udine and Reggio Calabria will add to them.
On May 7, the Sunday term “Modiopolia” appeared in the Gazzetta dello Sport Sunday issue. From now on, this is what they will most often call the system with which, according to investigators and journalists, Luciano Moggi has influenced Italian football for the past 10 years. Other popular notations are “Mafia” and “Octopus” (La Piovra), in honor of the series in which Commissioner Cattani never managed to defeat the mafia.
MODIOPOLY
What is Modjiopolia and how did it work? There is no official and confirmed by the court answer to this question yet. But from the statements of the investigators, printouts of telephone conversations, the first confessions of the suspects and the comments of those who are still clean, a rather harmonious picture has already been formed.
Juventus general manager Luciano Moji is accused of using the head of the refereeing committee, Pierluigi Pareto and his deputy Paolo Bergamo, to determine which referees should judge the matches of Juventus, which are the main competitors of the Turin club, and which are the teams whose leaders turned to Moji for help in “resolving issues”.
For his purposes, Moji used the capabilities of GEA World and the panel of judges. The agency acted in his interests the son of Alessandro Modgi, in the panel of judges - the international arbitrator Massimo De Santis.
The judges with whom Moji “worked” should, if using the terminology adopted in Russia, “kill” the teams that he chose as victims. The main method of influence was “artificial violations”: disputed penalties, penalties, etc. were awarded in favor of Juve. And the competing teams received a penalty on their own goal, their goals did not count, the players received more yellow and red cards than they deserved.
It sounds pretty naive and reminds fans of amateur fan conspiracy. But Moji's telephone conversations forced him to take this "conspiracy theory" more seriously than usual. Moggi cited the interlocutors as an example the work of De Santis at the Fiorentina match with Bologna on December 5, 2004, when the referee gave six yellow cards to the Bologna players, because of which goalkeeper Peruzzi and almost all the defenders missed the next match - exactly against Juventus. Or the match of “Siena” and “Milan” on April 17, 2005, which was judged by Pierluigi Collin. The side referee Duccio Balloni was included in the team to him, because of the mistake of which Collin canceled Shevchenko's goal.
In total, in the 2004/2005 season, the prosecutor’s office counted 19 “suspicious” matches, the outcome of which, judging by the negotiations, was influenced by the “Mafia Modzhi”. Of these, Juventus participated in seven, won five, once escaped defeat with a dubious goal in the last minutes and lost only one. This only match lost by the Turinians (Regina - Juventus November 6, 2004, final score - 2: 1) was judged by Paparest, who canceled goals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Kapo. After the game, an enraged Moji burst into the arbitrators' room, covered them with foul language and promised to do everything so that they would not be judged anymore, after which he locked them in the locker room. Paparest and colleagues could get out only after a few hours. The other dubious matches of the 2004/2005 season were played by Lazio, whose president Claudio Lotito asked Moji to help his team, Milan were the main competitor of Juve and Fiorentina.
The story with Fiorentina deserves a separate story. The honorary president of Fiorentina Diego Della Valle at the beginning of the 2004/2005 season was one of the leaders of a group of "small" clubs who argued with grandees for the distribution of money from the sale of broadcasting rights to matches of the series A. Della Valle, Garrone (president of Sampdoria) ), Giamparini (Palermo), Gazzoni (Bologna) demanded an even distribution of broadcasting income between all teams, while Moggi and Milan Executive Director Adriano Galliani insisted that most of the money be allocated to super clubs - Juventus, Milan "And Inter ", whose matches had the highest rating. Della Valle began a fight with the leadership of the Serie A football league, whose president was Galliani, and persuaded the rest of the clubs to jointly seek more favorable conditions for a contract with television. After that, “Fiorentina” began to lose one game after another and approached a relegation to Serie B.
In the end, the brothers Della Valle (one president, the second - the honorary president of Fiorentina) surrendered. Diego personally called Luciano Moji and asked to help keep his team in place in series A. Moji promised to help. A few days later, on his advice, Della Valle called the vice president of the federation, Innocenzo Mazini. The monologue of the Florentine president is one of the most touching places in all published transcripts: “I am very worried, I just don’t understand where the judges got this anger towards us. These are professional killers ... "
Judges' mistakes in Fiorentina matches have stopped. And began in the matches of competitors of the Florentines. The decisive was the match Lecce - Parma, on which the future of Fiorentina depended. The match was judged by De Santis, who called this match “surgery”: as a result, the teams drew (3: 3), and on the same day Fiorentina beat Brescia 3-0 and remained in Serie A.
However, the accusations against Moji and his entourage were not limited to “working with judges”. And the 2004/2005 season too. Italy was shaking throughout the last month of spring - every day it brought new messages about new cases initiated by the prosecutor's office, about new resignations and new suspects. The 29th league title won by Juventus was perhaps the most modestly celebrated in history.
"EVERYTHING IS Worse THAN THAN I THINKED"
As it turned out, the investigation of what was happening in Italian football, it was only necessary to begin - then criminal cases begin to arise one after another. In addition to investigating the activities of Luciano Modgi, eight more “football cases” are being considered by prosecutors in various Italian cities.
“The Doping Case.” Actually, it was from this case that the investigation of the Turin prosecutor's office began. Back in August 2004, sanction was issued to listen to Juve executives' telephone conversations - in this way, investigators planned to collect information about the use of a doping club (as you know, in Italy the use of drugs prohibited in sports is a criminal offense). And only from the listening data did the investigators learn so much about Italian football that they had to start new business.
“The Case of Transfers.” The Turin Financial Guard and Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation on suspicion of tax evasion and the use of illegal financial schemes in the transfer process involving Juventus in 2002. Under suspicion is the exchange of Amoruso for Ametrano (Juventus - Napoli), the purchase of Buffon and the exchange of Juve with Parma (Di Vaio for Brigi).
“The GEA World Case.” Alessandro Moggi (son of Luciano), Chiara Gerontsi (daughter of Cesare Gerontsi, president of Capitalia, the largest financial group in Rome) and Franco Zavaglia work for the GEA World Association of sports agents. Later, David Lippi, the son of the former head coach of Juventus and now the head coach of the Italian national team Marcello Lippi, began working as a football agent in this company. The company had rights to 200 players and coaches of series A.
GEA World is accused of “criminal competition with the use of violence and blackmail” with the aim of creating a monopoly in the market for football players. Luciano and Alessandro Moggi forced the players to sign a contract with GEA World, threatening, in case of disagreement, “destroy their careers”. The evidence is numerous telephone calls and statements by players and sports agents. Thus, the Muji clan received leverage to control the Italian football market. One of the episodes of the “case” is the transition of Fabio Cannavaro from “Inter” to “Juventus” - investigators say that the player was forced to do this by the father and son of Moji.
Senior Moji also influenced the formation of the Italian national team, convincing Lippi's father not to call Juventus players on the eve of important matches. And vice versa - to call those players whose transfer value GEA World wanted to increase. David Lippi is accused of being the one who forced his father to accept Moji's terms.
The Hostage Case. The main episode is the story described above with the Paparest brigade. Moji is accused of "attempted personal freedom and an attempt to take hostages."
"The Case of the Underground Tote." A large group of players in Serie A clubs are suspected of participating in an underground sweepstakes, including Yankulovsky, Jakvinta, Pinzi, Di Michele, Marjotta, Kalach, Buffon, Juliano, Maresca, Clementi, Sosa. Goalkeeper Italy and Juventus Gianluigi Buffon during an interrogation at the Turin prosecutor’s office has already admitted that he made football bets for two years and spent about 1.6 million euros on this. Buffon is accused of putting on matches, the outcome of which was known to him from Moji Jr. in advance, but the goalkeeper himself claims that he bet only on matches of other championships and stopped doing this in the fall of 2005, when the rules of the sports code changed .
“The case of Fiorentina.” Fiorentina’s president Andrea Della Valle and the club’s honorary president Diego Della Valle are accused of conspiring with Luciano Moggi, bribing referees and officials of the federation, and arranging match-fixing for the 2004/2005 season.
“The Lazio case.” Lazio president Claudio Lotito is accused of participating in contractual matches. In the Naples prosecutor’s office, three controversial matches of the 2004/2005 season are being investigated - Chievo - Lazio (0: 1), Lazio - Parma (2: 0), Bologna - Lazio (1: 2 ) The investigation believes that Lazio won these matches thanks to the refereeing.
“The case of Milan. The Naples prosecutor’s office listens to two matches: Milan - Brescia (1: 1) and Milan - Chievo (1: 0), the results of which were beneficial to Milan. The result of another match, which aroused the suspicion of the investigation, was beneficial to Juventus. This is the defeat of Milan from Siena on April 17, 2005. Paolo Bergamo, Pierluigi Pairetto, Innocenzo Masini, Antonio Giraudo and side judge Duccio Balloni were summoned for interrogation. In total, the Italian prosecutor’s office is currently investigating the activities of 71 professional football clubs in Italy, including 16 out of 20 Serie A clubs. The new head of the football federation, Guido Rossi, admitted to journalists several days after his appointment: “When I went to this place , I knew we had problems. But it turned out even worse. ”
FUTURE PLANS
Formal court decisions on football matters are expected no earlier than August. Nevertheless, the first victims of the scandal were already Luciano Modgi and his telephone interlocutors. In full force, the board of directors of Juventus and the entire leadership of the Italian Football Federation have resigned. Massimo De Santis is excluded from the referees who are allowed to serve the World Cup. Row cleaning continues. But in the end, the fate of the Moji family is now most worried about its members, lawyers and investigators. For everyone else it is much more interesting - what will happen to one of the most powerful football leagues in the world now. What will be the punishment for Juventus (and no one doubts that it will be) and how many more Turinians will drag out for themselves? There are many options.
Option 1. Juve goes to Serie B or even Serie C. Going to Serie B is the most likely outcome of the problem, if the fact of manipulating the football system is proved. Last year’s “Genoa case” can be used as a precedent, when the team for the purchase of one match was downgraded. Juve is accused of buying at least seven games. According to article 13 of the Code of Sports Justice in this case, “a team may be excluded from the championship and, depending on the decision of the Federal Council, will move to one of the lower championships”. Therefore, Juve risks both the B series and the C1 series at the same time.
Option 2. Juve will not only be downgraded, but will lose his last scudetto, and the champion’s title will go to the second in the classification. If Juve’s interference in the course of the 2004/2005 championship is proven, the team will automatically be deprived of the title of champion of 2005 and 2006. For other championships, investigations have not yet been conducted. True, the 2004/05 Scudetto is unlikely to move to the second in the classification. In the history of Italian football there was only one such case - in 1927, then the Torino champion was stripped of the title, but the first place remained unoccupied.
Option 3. Soft punishment of Juventus. Only one line of defense can lead to the least severe decision of judges - based on the concept of “objective responsibility” and indirect responsibility. Juventus lawyers may try to prove that the club was not directly implicated in the criminal fraud of its leaders (Moji and Giraudo). In this case, the punishment will follow anyway, but it will be much milder. According to the 6th article of the Code of Sports Justice, only fines are provided for a team either in the 2005/06 championship or in the upcoming championship.
Option 4. Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan will be sent to Serie B. The position of Fiorentina and Lazio seems less complicated only compared to Juve. Nevertheless, both teams also run the risk of getting into the lower division - if their involvement in the contractual matches is proved. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the presidents of the teams, Lotito and Della Valle, are directly accused. Milan is in more favorable conditions, because cases with match-fixing games seem more controversial. If in the course of the investigation no new facts compromising Milan are found out, sanctions against the club will not follow.
Option 5. The right to play in the Champions League will receive other clubs. If Juventus is sent it will be transferred to the lower division, it will automatically lose its place in European competitions. And even if the team will only be fined, its participation in the Champions League is in question. UEFA has already announced that it will take any decision by the Italian Football Federation, but will decide on the admission of Juventus to the League on its own. If only Juve suffers, then Roma will enter the Champions League. If Fiorentina and Lazio also go to Serie B, Chievo will get another place in the Champions League. And Palermo, Livorno and either Parma or Empoli will make it to the UEFA Cup. In any case, a decision on this should be made before July 28 - the filing date of official applications from national federations.
Option 6. Serie A will return teams that dropped out of it following the results of the championship. If events will develop logically and in accordance with the law, and Juve, Fiorentina and Lazio will transfer to Serie B, then the teams that left Serie A at the end of the season will return back - Messina, Lecce and Treviso ". However, if as a result the number of punished teams will be four or more, then the Federal Council may revise the championship formula and reduce Serie A to 18 teams.
Option 7. The next Serie A championship may start later or be completely canceled. Championship 2006/07 should begin on August 27. Usually the calendar is 10-15 days before. However, most likely, no court decisions will be made until mid-August: after all, the cases go through at least three levels of the legal system, and in case of contentious issues two more appeals are added. In this case, the federation may delay the start of the season. True, Guido Rossi has already stated that the option of canceling the 2006/07 championship is "not even considered now."
In any case, the series A that we knew in recent years will no longer be.
Text: Emanuele Perotti
Italian Football Corruption Case Charged on June 22